#because again

1. I am asexual and demiromantic. I like the idea of finding a long term romantic partner one day, but I experience romance rarely, and with little to no sexual component, and only in a sapphic bent. So that feels unlikely. I like to ship aspec and aspec coded characters because I like to project onto them, and explore what romantic (or queer platonic) relationships can look like for characters who are more similar to me.

2. The character the post was referring to is not, in fact, canonically acearo. That is purely headcanon. It is entirely reasonable to headcanon him as ace but not aro, or aro but not ace, or gay, or straight, or any flavour of demi. People who don't read him as acearo are not, in fact, "changing" anything about him, and are not in the wrong.

3. THIS IS ALL FICTIONAL AND FOR FUN. YOU ARE MAD ABOUT HOW I PLAY WITH MY DOLLS. YOU ARE MAD AT MY STYLE OF PLAY-PRETEND. Can you be so for real right now.

It's just frustrating to be frequently judged by my own community, you know? I shouldn't have to whip out my aspec credentials every time I get into a ship with characters who are like me. "Everyone only ships them because it's two hot guys" I'm an asexual sapphic. I like the ship because they have a lot of fascinating parallels and potential for emotional depth, and because yes, one of them gives some NOT CANON aspec vibes, and that makes me connect with a ship even more for obvious reasons.

Sure, some people only ship it because it's two conventionally attractive men. Sure, some people only enjoy romance centered media, and are finding a way to work it in. But those people aren't doing anything wrong, either. If you don't like the ship, just filter the tag. No one with any sense would blame or judge you for that. So how about you stop blaming and judging the people who DO enjoy it?

preferably in their twenties

It is so valid to feel frustration about this and i get it but both bnha and stranger things are for hormonal teenagers, and while i agree with the sentiment i think you may have misunderstood that these are mostly kids

I hope you have a good day/night and that this helps with the frustration a little

No worries man 💖

Honestly it's not even that deep. I'm busy putting together a video reviewing the second season of Velma of all things... and I make a comment in the video that it's amazing how so much of this show is written SPECIFICALLY for this kind of audience... and it failed at even attracting that kind of audience. Which is amazing. But in order to write that part, I of course did research to make sure I was actually saying something and not just making shit up. And it was after seeing what was going on over there I was like "man ya'll should really just watch soap operas if this is what you want"

idk why everyone is treating a random post I made about a random thought I had while editing so seriously 😭

The one person in the notes who said "Everyone should watch The Legend of Zhe Huan" is so valid tho. I don't watch Historic Romance C-drama because they don't appeal to me but... they're right. That's probably the exact kind of show that people looking for shipping as the major focus would be happy with.

A ShinRan Week 2026 Entry Prompt: Mutual Pining / Domestic / College Roomates!AU / Birthday Words: ~1.2k

"Where the hell is that Pabron Gold A," Shinichi grumbles for the eighth time, arm extended up to the back of the kitchen cabinet. Today, he is supposed to be basking under the heat of the sun, feet in contact with a soccer ball and surrounded by his team he promised a game with, not trudging the floor of the apartment like a sorry old man attempting to look for a medicine in his sorry bleary state.

"I was gone for a minute and I see you like this." From behind him, Shinichi hears the prick in his best friend's tone. He doesn't mean for her to see him doing this behind her back, but he can't be expected to sit idly either while in a near-death experience. "And you say you'll get better soon? What a child."

Like a child, Shinchi is escorted by Ran back their shared apartment's living room couch. "I told you to stay still, Mr. Birthday Boy. Let me be the one to serve you."

On another day Shinichi would have smirked at the unintentional innuendo, but he is too troubled by an impending sneeze that he replies to Ran with a, well, sneeze.

"Happy Birthday to me, indeed." He slumped back into the couch.

On the other end of the floor, Ran prepares a glass of warm water and sets up a kettle, mind briefly drifting to the birthday cake in the fridge. Seems it will have to sit in there a little longer until she can share it together with her best friend sans the sore throat.

She cannot see Shinichi at the moment, but she can picture the face he's sporting then, what with the petty grumbles of "can't believe I missed soccer, damn" and "what a waste of a fine day" she overhears in between occasional bouts of cough. Ran sighs, addresses Shinichi from the kitchen with a voice that resonates across the unit. "Soccer can wait, Shinichi."

"Says the woman who still attended karate training despite a sprain," Shinichi croaks back.

"To clarify, that was not a sprain. Just a strained muscle."

"Sure." Shinichi coughs again and winces.

"Anyway, as I was saying," Ran cuts him off before he prolongs the banter, stopping in front of the couch to kneel in front of him who has risen begrudgingly to a sitting position. She places the glass of water near his mouth for him to hold and pops a tablet to his palm. "Soccer can wait. Your immune system can't. It will be a shame if you die on your birthday. These meds you're looking for are right beside you by the way."

"Oh. Thanks."

He feels her watch him down the medicine with water, as if Ran doesn't trust him enough to drink his medicine all the way. It isn't supposed to make him feel awkward, she's consistently done the same since the first hour of his fever, and yet the feeling of being monitored down to the very last detail by his childhood friend of almost sixteen years flusters him. Man is he ever going to get used to this.

"I can take care of my self yanno. I’m twenty," Shinichi states feebly, after he gives her back the empty glass and Ran pulls up a cooling gel sheet from the end table.

“Shut up. I’ll take care of you until we’re eighty,” she replies, eyes thin, looming closer to his face.

He sniggers. "That long? You gonna marry me or something?"

It is a remark borne out of confidence that the recipient who has known him for almost his entire life will take it in jest. Even so, in the burning soreness of his throat - not sure if caused by his sickness or the words which left his mouth - Shinichi feels like the fever is being sucked out of himself everytime he sees her responsive smile and hears her little laugh.

"I'll think about it," she says, as she combs his bangs away with her fingers, and places the gel patch over his forehead.

Shinichi knows it's a response borne out of confidence that the recipient will be certain Ran doesn't literally mean it. That she will not step out of sight and lean behind the kitchen wall and ponder about his amateur proposal as if her life depends on it. Which actually, it does. A lifetime with him? Pfft. Too early to imagine. It's better to dwell in the now. With her. Taking care of him. Best friends for almost two decades now, on a milestone day in his life.

Still.

"You don't have to, though," he mumbles, inaudible for Ran to hear.

More inaudible are the thoughts he doesn't convert to speech, looping like a broken record in his brain:

You don't have to- We don't have to think about it that hard.

It's obvious.

We can decide right here, right now.

But if you let me speak first Ran, I think, for the longest time, I have already made my choice-

"You said something, Shinichi?"

"I mean, you don't have to answer that. Haha," is what he says instead. "I was joking, Ran."

Ran is silent for a long time, then smiles.

"I know, idiot Shinichi," she says after a moment, ruffling his bangs. "You would never choose a crybaby caretaker like me, right?"

A certain quiet commonly shared by two childhood best friends lingers in the room, and in the pause he starts to wonder if he has actually been vague with Ran all this time. He doesn't know why there is a pang of disappointment in his chest, but if such does exist, he is certain it is not directed at her response, but rather, at himself. For once, on his birthday, Shinichi actually wishes.

Shinichi wishes for something different. He wishes for a slight bit of reciprocation that is beyond the realm of friendship. He wishes for Ran to take back what she said and have enough faith in him to believe that he actually would.

After all, this certain feeling hasn't left him since he was four, since he saw her in that kindergarten classroom with a mile-wide smile despite tears clouding her eyes, a crumpled sakura paper in hand with his name in hiragana written on it.

Before he can open his mouth, she speaks first.

"Anyway! I give you a pass to tease me because it's your birthday. Get well soon so we can at least go out and have a nice dinner later, okay?" Her smile is natural, as always, along with the ocean blue of her eyes and the apple of her cheeks.

For the longest time he's known: that smile impressed upon him is meant as platonic.

Ran grazes a hand over his forehead one last time before rising to her knees. "I'll prepare tea, Shinichi," she says, solemnly.

In the silence she leaves him as she hums away unto the whistling kettle, in between the soft rhythm of Shinichi's beating heart, there's an endless rippling stream, drip drip dripping throughout himself. In his heart lies an unshakeable, pressing ache. A need devoid of malice. A truth that will take a hundred more birthday wishes and a thousand meteors crashing down earth before he caves into verbal admission -

"Want it to mean everything but, barou."